Udacity, AT&T Team Up in Online Ed

Technology companies often say that U.S. higher education is failing to prepare students for the jobs of the future. Now AT&T, working with online education company Udacity, is trying to make a difference.

Udacity is one of the companies that helped popularize what are called MOOCs–massive online education courses–that are designed to bring college-level education to a global audience without going to a campus. The effort with AT&T is its first degree program that could teach students the kinds of skills needed to win jobs at the telecom giant.

Focusing on entry-level software skills, Udacity says its new “NanoDegree” will be offered online, involve less than a year of coursework, and cost about $200 per month. AT&T in turn will offer paid internships to some NanoDegree graduates.

The move suggests Udacity is adding elements to operate more like a technical college or trade school. But it’s a small step.

AT&T is the only company that has committed to hire graduates of its NanoDegree program, and only 100 at that. No higher education accrediting body has recognized the new coursework. But Udacity founder Sebastian Thrum, who appeared last week at the New York Times Next New World Conference, says the company has more planned.

“The intent is that this becomes an industry-wide platform,” said Thrun in an email, pointing out that while AT&T is the only company that Udacity has asked to commit jobs, others that include Cloudera, Autodesk and Salesforce.com have endorsed the degree.

Not that some big employers don’t already help educate workers. Technology companies like Cisco and Microsoft have long sponsored certification programs that provide tech workers with specialized skills to work with their products. And McDonald’s even has its own Hamburger University, which 5,000 people attend per year according to the company.

But Udacity’s online format is different, and the company has a broader vision than being an outsourced training program for individual companies. Thrun said in an interview that Udacity’s goal with NanoDegrees is to give people access to credentials that will be recognized by a wide range of employers.